Winter Wonderland

Since the forecast is snow, snow and more snow I may as well just do a painting of snow.

I used three colours on this painting; French ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and raw sienna.

The sky was washed in, soft trees were added into the background while the paper was still fairly damp and a little salt was sprinkled into the sky and background to create "snowflakes".

As the paper dried closer foreground trees were painted in with small amounts of salt added to each layer.

Once the painting was completely dry the "growies" were painted in and a few brighter snowflakes were picked out with a razor blade.

Thank you to new collector Mr. Jim McLean of Toronto, Ontario on his purchase of this original 10-1/2" x 13-3/4” framed watercolour.

Harvest Time - A Work in Progress

The barn had been drawn onto the paper and the background maple trees have been indicated as well as a few pine trees.

I have to decide what I am going to have in the foreground, whether it will be a crop of pumpkins, corn or another crop being harvested.

I will post this painting at a later date when I know which direction to take this painting.

Thank you for coming to look at my artwork.

Spanish Moss - A Work in Progress

One Monday a month I paint with the Creative Art Guild in Lakefield.

Diana Charlebois asked if I would try to paint Spanish moss and gave me this photograph she had taken in Florida as reference material.

I sketched out the main tree trunks and indicated the road. Using French ultramarine blue I washed in a little sky into the top of the painting.

Since this is my first time attempting to paint Spanish moss I thought using a dry brush technique to apply the colour would be the best way to proceed and to keep the image looking light and delicate.

I added some darks to the main tree trunk and a little to the branches. It still needs a lot more work before I am happy with the final result.

I will post this painting at a later date as I get more work completed on it.

Training Mile

A lot of work goes into the training of Standardbreds to get them into condition to qualify and keeping them sound for racing.

The regular routine of jogging the horse five to eight miles a day to keep them in racing condition and two days of the week with training miles usually three miles, each one faster than the one before.













Thank you to Jam Stables of Pickering, Ontario on their commission to paint one of their Stakes Colts.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and look at the artwork. I hope you will return often.

Bunny - A Work in Progress

This is another painting I have developed from my sketches while on location at the Riverview Zoo.

I have was Antwerp blue behind the rabbit and will probably not do anything more to the background.

Most of the rabbit is completed; it just needs a little more detail added to the hair and the face.

A mixture of Antwerp blue and raw sienna was washed in below the rabbit to give it a base. I will have to add a few more detailed grasses and a shadow to ground him in place so he doesn't seem to be floating.

I will post this painting at a later date once it is completed.

Peter Cottontail

This is an original 5" x 7” oval, framed watercolour available for $135.00.

While at the Riverview Zoo I took photographs of a number of rabbits running loose on the grounds. They were very friendly and would often approach if you offered food to them.

I did a number of sketches while there and this is one of the paintings that I completed.

OSWOA - Golden Moment 1

The sky is a graduated wash using new gamboge down to the bottom third of the painting and then gradually darkened.

While the paint was still fairly wet the background trees were put in using mixtures of Antwerp blue and French ultramarine blue.

To give some interest to the background trees a little bit of alizarin crimson was dropped into various areas.

The lake was washed with raw sienna to create the flatness of the calm water. With burnt sienna and a touch of French ultramarine blue the rocky outcrop was painted.

Once the paper was dry the pine trees were painted in using various mixes of French ultramarine blue, Antwerp blue, raw sienna and burnt sienna.

To complete the painting reeds and grasses were painted in using mixtures of Antwerp blue, burnt sienna and raw sienna.

If you would like more information about OSWOA please go to my post on 12 March 2010.

The OSWOA shown here is an original watercolour painting using Artist quality Winsor & Newton paint on either 140lb. Arches 100% rag, acid free watercolour paper. It is priced at $40.00 and sold unframed.